This invention relates generally to an improved heating system and, more particularly, to a solar rock fireplace system to be connected to a forced air heating system.
Many houses have fireplaces and, therefore, the present invention will be described in such an environment. It may be appreciated, however, that the present invention may be utilized in virtually any building, residential, industrial or commercial, which includes a forced air heating system.
The burning of wood, paper logs or other material in a fireplace has long been recognized as a technique for heating a house. In addition, the interconnection of a fireplace to a forced air heating system has been disclosed in earlier patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 1,722,560 issued to Cornelius in 1929. However, the use of a fireplace as part of a home heating system has suffered from two serious disadvantages.
The first disadvantage is that combustion in the fireplace causes a slight negative pressure or draft in the house as the hot gases flow upwardly through the flue and chimney. To equalize this negative pressure, cold air from outside the house seeps into the house through cracks around windows and around doors. Thus a fireplace system usually has, as one of the attendant disadvantages, the introduction of additional cold air into the house.
A second and even more significant disadvantage has been the need to burn material in the fireplace constantly to generate heat for the house because as soon as the combustion stopped, there no longer was any source of hot air for circulation through the house. In other words, when there was no fire in the fireplace there was a rapid drop in the temperature of the air being circulated. I have recognized that the problem is the inability of a fireplace to store the heat which is generated by combustion.
Solar rocks, or washed gravel, have been known for their ability to store heat. However, the use of solar rocks has heretofore been limited to the heating of the solar rocks in an enclosed chamber in conjunction with solar heat collectors or solar panels.
The present invention is the first instance in which solar rocks are heated other than by energy from the sun and then used in conjunction with a forced air heating system to heat a house. This is of particular importance since, in many geographical regions, the energy from the sun used with solar panels or solar collectors to heat solar rocks, is insufficient to maintain the house at the desired temperature, either because of the cold climate, or the number of cloudy days which limit the ability of the energy from the sun to heat the solar rocks, or both.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of prior art fireplace heating systems by providing a fireplace heating system which stores the heat generated by the combustion in the fireplace until the heat is needed for heating the house. In addition, the present invention overcomes the limitation on the use of solar panels to heat solar rocks.